Something very interesting happened at Target last week. High end fashion design house Missoni created a special (cheap) line for Target, and last week it went on sale. Crazed shoppers stood in long lines from before dawn for a chance to get their hands on anything from the Missoni collection. For those who don't follow the world of fashion, real Missoni dresses typically sell for thousands of dollars, and the Target line included skirts priced around $40. Anyway, by 9 a.m., the racks were empty and the area designated for the Missoni merchandise looked positively war-torn. I listened to reports from the scene, describing shoppers going into an absolute frenzy, indiscriminately clearing off entire shelves of every item and size, maxing out their credit cards at the check out, and fighting other shoppers for possession of just one coveted item.
But how can this be?? Aren't we in the middle of the worst recession since the great depression? Isn't everyone's scared and cautious with their spending? So what, all of a sudden everyone went completely nuts? I mean this was not a case of carefully selecting a high quality item with which to treat yourself, this was a complete and utter chaos!
It's just that we have been so careful with our budgets. We have mastered the art of self deprivation. We will forgo all those frivolous, momentary pleasures for our lofty, long term goals! We will practice extreme couponing! We will pay down our debts, and we will save to send little Billy and Suzy to college, and we will max out our retirement account contributions like good upstanding citizens. We will teach our children the difference between wants and needs, and we will start acting like mature adults, damn it! We will be austere, and pretend we enjoy staycations, because the future is more important than the now!
Until Target releases a cheap line of Missoni. And then we will BINGE! Because when we see a Missoni skirt for $40, all this careful budget stuff goes right out the window. We hear a voice in our heads ----- an old familiar voice, the voice of our inner child who desperately needs the Ben10 Ultimate Omnitrix watch, and has no concept of anything beyond RIGHT NOW. The voice screams "I NEED THAT"! And strangely, the voice of our inner child sounds just like the voice of Glenn Close as she tells Michael Douglass, "I'm not gonna be ignored, Dan!" (Fatal Attraction, 1987) And the voice is the reason why budgets generally fail.
Psychologically, we can't handle extreme deprivation for long. Ever go on a no-carb diet? We need some occasional rewards for our good behavior. We have to build into our budgets a category for treating ourselves to something nice here and there. It can be an overpriced latte in the morning, or a nice manicure --- whatever makes you happy. I like kitchen gadgets. You decide how much you can allow yourself, based on your income and debts, but don't leave this category out. In the end, this strategy will give you a much better shot at achieving your financial goals. And you won't go on some weird shopping bender and find yourself buying the $3,000 Saeco Xelsis Digital ID Fully Automatic Espresso Machine. (I'm totally not making that up: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=17848658&RN=278&.)
6 comments:
Psychologically right on. when I was trying to lose weight, my coach advised to plan on one "pig out day" a week, because we can't tolerate self-deprivation for too long before we have to compensate by some outrageous act. So the best strategy is to build into our
plans some splurge. Just to prevent mishaps.
Yes! I've now been validated by a shrink! awesome.
thank you!
I beg your pardon... we were not ALL crazed.
perhaps you were channeling Glenn Close in a classier role. did you get anything good?
It was all gone by the time I got there... about 8:10 am.
so there wouldn't have really been a good reason for you to hurt anyone.
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